


Short 41 - Like Clockwork

by stgjr



Series: "The Power of a Name" Series 3 - "Time Lord Penitent" [27]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005), Final Fantasy X-2, Multi-Fandom
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Multiple Crossovers, Multiverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-29
Updated: 2017-06-29
Packaged: 2018-11-20 16:56:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11339562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stgjr/pseuds/stgjr
Summary: Our narrator brings Liara to a new world and finds a Crack and a short adventure to fill the time.





	Short 41 - Like Clockwork

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted on June 13th, 2015.

I stepped out of the TARDIS with Liara following. "You said you wanted something different, right?", I said, after which a crash of thunder echoed overhead. I turned and spread my arms. "Well, here we are!"  
  
Liara looked around. Admittedly the rocky surroundings were dreary looking, and the dark skies above made it even drearier. "And where, exactly, is this?"  
  
"The Thunder Plains!", I declared. "Do watch your step."  
  
There was another crash of lighting not far from us. "That sounds quite... unsettling," Liara said, having searched for the right word to use.  
  
"Yes, well, we're right at the point where the frigid air to the north in Macalania hits the warm air coming from the south," I said. "It's turned the entire region into a persistent lightning storm."  
  
"It reminds me of Hagalaz," Liara said. "Although would a normal garden planet be capable of sustaining such a lightning storm?"  
  
"It is rather out there, I admit, but this world has some metaphysical properties," I answered. I pulled out my sonic screwdriver and waved it in the air, letting it scan the area. "Well well well.... look at all of that energy." I felt my brow furrow. "Quite a bit more than I expected, actually. There _is_ something off around here."  
  
A sound came to the periphery of my hearing. A clatter of metal... and then the thunder from above was joined by thunder from ground level, the familiar bark of firearms. Liara looked at me. "It's coming from over the ridge," she said.  
  
We went over to the ridge line, my free hand already reaching for my sonic disruptor. When we got to the crest I dropped to my belly and peeked over it. There were figures in the gully below, fighting furiously. It looks like a couple dozen or so against three fairly capable fighters. I set the sonic disruptor down and pulled out my spyglass. It looked like it belonged on a pirate ship, but looks could be deceiving, it had some fairly sophisticated sensors built into it. "Well, well, what do we have here?", I murmured as I ran the spyglass over the battle below.  
  
The three figures in the middle were near a metallic object of sorts, or at least a bit sticking out from a larger one buried underground. They were keeping their backs to each other. I zoomed in a bit more.  
  
Ah. The redoubtable Gullwings. How intriguing. And a bit disconcerting. I felt a tad voyeurish looking at them. Especially Rikku. I would imagine she gets rather cold wearing that... I would call it a suit, but the only suit it came close to being was a birthday suit.  
  
But what really intrigued me was the foe they were facing. I smirked. "Oh, how interesting. I was wondering about that lot..." I stood up and turned away. "I've been preparing for them too!"  
  
I ran back to the TARDIS. Liara caught up to the door by the time I was on the upper deck of the control chamber, running along the wall to one of my storage lockers. "What are you talking about? Who?"  
  
"Another threat I expected to find," I said, looking through my trunk. "Hrm, quantum destabilizer, no... dampening field dongly-thing... not that...." I went through the objects until I found what I was looking for. "A ha!" I fixed the belt across my chest like it was a bandolier.  
  
Liara stared at me. "Those are water balloons."  
  
"They are balloons, yes, but not just water balloons," I answered, making a face at her. I offered a belt. "Want one?"  
  
Liara crossed her arms and, briefly, flared up her biotics.  
  
"Point taken," I answered. At which I ran back out of the TARDIS, Liara on my heels and still wondering what was going on.  
  
But I do so love keeping the mystery, sometimes.  
  
This time I ran over the crest of the ridge, ignored a flash of light from a lightning bolt striking near me, and charged down the incline toward the three figures who were rather surrounded. I pulled the first balloon off my crossed belts over my suit and held it ready until I was in throwing range. "Oi, you lot! Up here!"  
  
They turned toward me as the balloon flew from my hand. It came down on one, who reacted by holding up an arm and allowing a blade to stab the balloon and pop it. Crimson liquid exploded outward and coated the figure.  
  
It stopped, seized up, and fell over.  
  
"Anti-oil!" I proclaimed. "Not very good for you droids, is it?"  
  
The gaggle of clockwork droids that were surrounding the Gullwings all turned toward me. "We require spare parts," one stated. It held up a hand that glistened with the edge of a blade.  
  
"Don't you always?", I retorted. "And you think organic body parts fit the bill just fine. But I am afraid to say that those body parts are usually being used by the people they're attached to. And I am terribly unamused by your desire to cut them to bits for them."  
  
"We need replacement parts," the droid said again. "They must be acquired."  
  
Seeing as how my negotiations were going nowhere, I pulled another balloon loose and threw it at the droid speaking to me. It popped the moment it hit the droid and the anti-oil spilled all over its parts. It too seized up.  
  
"Wait!" The high-toned voice could only be Rikku. "Who are you anyway?!"  
  
"It doesn't matter right now." That was Paine, the young lady in mostly dark clothing who looked like she was on the line between withdrawn and depressed. She brought up a longsword from where she was holding it parallel to her leg and sliced at the droid I had just stunned. "Attack!"  
  
The first droid I had coated in anti-oil was starting to recover, but it didn't get a chance to. Yuna was quick to show off how well she had adapted from running around with a big stick to pulling the Lara Croft routine with semi-automatic pistols. She handled them well enough, I suppose. I'm just not a fan of guns.  
  
I drew back my arm and let fly with another anti-oil balloon, and then another. "You're enjoying this!" Liara declared from her place at my side, summoning her biotic power. She threw out a singularity that drew in two of the clockwork droids before they could get Yuna from behind. The former Summoner twirled around, her half-skirt at the waist flowing with her in the movement, and emptied her remaining clips into the droids.  
  
"Of course!" I shouted. "I've been bloody looking forward to this!" I tossed another balloon.  
  
There were only a couple dozen droids left, and I had balloons for most of them. Indeed, I was always hitting my mark.  
  
Well... almost always. In one case Rikku, enthusiastically pursuing one droid moving toward Yuna's side, got in my line of sight and was soon covered in anti-oil. "Ewww! Icky!" She looked back at me and shook a dagger-clutching fist. "Watch where you're throwing those things!"  
  
"Watch where you're running!" I retorted.  
  
She promptly blew me a raspberry. As for the droid she had accidentally shielded, Liara got it first with a biotic blast that tossed it into the opposite incline of the gully.  
  
Once the droids were all twitching, wrecked debris strewn across the Thunder Plains, Liara and I finished our descent into the floor of the gully. "Well, that always gets the hearts racing, doesn't it?" I said, exuberant from the rush. "A little adventure, a spice of action to liven the day!"  
  
"I have had all of the 'adventure' I care to stand," Liara said to me.  
  
We stood about ten feet away from the Gullwings, who finished catching their breath. Rikku looked down at herself and all of the anti-oil still clinging to her body... which of course was helpfully displayed by the fact that she was wearing a bikini and very short tool belt shorts. "Yuck, what is this stuff?!"  
  
"Anti-oil," I answered. "Really gums up the works in clockwork droids and similar machines."  
  
Liara directed a look at me. "Doctor... "  
  
"Right. Sorry, I'm being rude, introductions are in order." I bowed my head. "I'm the Doctor, young ladies, and this is my traveling Companion, Doctor Liara T'Soni."  
  
They were staring at her. And for good reason; though their world had non-Human species, none resembled the Asari. I really needed to find a way to let that holobelt function with her biotics.  
  
I might have prompted them, but before I could Yuna bowed politely. "Doctor. I'm Yuna, and these are my friends Rikku and Paine."  
  
"We're the Gullwings, Spira's best sphere hunters!" Rikku proclaimed, the introduction causing her to momentarily forget her being coated with anti-oil.  
  
"You'll have to excuse Rikku," Paine added. "She's easily excited."  
  
"Yeah I... hey! What do you mean by that?!"  
  
I smiled at the antics. "Lady Yuna, a distinct pleasure and honor." I bowed again. "Now... what have we here?"  
  
"Our ship detected sphere waves coming from around here," Yuna explained. "But all we found were those things."  
  
"Yes," I said, ,looking about. "This is off the beaten track for the Plains, isn't it? You're probably the first Humans to have come close enough to be registered on the droids' sensors. They decided you would make useful spare parts."  
  
"Spare... parts?" Rikku asked, her realization making her queasy. "You mean like..."  
  
"Oh, heart, eyes, other organs that could help them try to restore their spacecraft," I explained, leaning over and scanning one. "As for these sphere waves of yours. If I had to hazard a guess, it's actually because the ship's automatic distress signal operates on the same wavelengths as recorded spheres in Spira. Nasty little false positive you had there." After confirming the clockwork droid was completely dead I looked over its parts until I found what I was looking for. "Let's see... a ha! Just as I suspected. How fitting too."  
  
Liara knelt down next to me. "What's fitting, Doctor?"  
  
I smiled at her. "These Clockwork Droids, they're from the _Julie d'Aubigny_. _La Maupin_ herself. She was a 17th Century French opera singer and swordswoman. Put on an excellent show of _Tancrède_ , marvelous work. Rather early in my travels I introduced her to Janias and Camilla so Jan could get some swordplay pointers. She spent half the time trying to bed them." I coughed. "And she was also rather affectionate toward Katherine I recall... and toward Korra and Asami..." My brow furrowed. "Bit of a pattern there, I admit."  
  
"Wait, you're saying there's no sphere here?" Paine, of course, was straight to business. "That we came all that way out here for nothing?"  
  
"Well, I wouldn't say that," I answered. "You've helpfully informed me of why the Thunder Plains seem unusually active today." As if on cue, a thunder strike slammed into the ground nearby. I held my sonic skyward. "We've got a Crack, probably about a mile or so up, maybe. High enough to excite the natural storm formation from the Macalania and Guadosalam air currents striking each other."  
  
Rikku responded with a confused, "A... crack? Crack in what?"  
  
I almost responded to Rikku with snark about the crack threatening to appear if her shorts fell any further. But Liara beat me to the thought and made it clear, with a solid look, that I should probably avoid such juvenile humor. "In the Universe. Multiverse. Well, actually... you know, we'll stick with Multiverse. Six dimensions of space-time, cracked right through, and its letting off energy. Let this ship and its droids through as well." I indicated the field of destroyed clockwork droids around us. "So..." I narrowed my eyes. "Yuna, your group has an airship, correct?"  
  
She nodded. "Yes, we do."  
  
"Ah, good. Because we should close that Crack before it supercharges the storms and sends them on their way to start devastating your planet," I explained. "And having your airship lift the TARDIS up to it will make this far easier."  
  
The three young ladies shared looks. "He _did_ come to our rescue," Yuna pointed out to him.  
  
"And the Thunder Plains are being really nasty today," Paine added.  
  
"He covered me in gunk!" Rikku protested.  
  
"Ah, it's anti-oil, washes right out," I said flippantly.  
  
Rikku growled at me in reply, but Yuna was already getting on the radio back to the _Celsius_.  
  
  
  
  
With the TARDIS secured on the airship's open deck, Liara and I journeyed to their main bridge. I walked to the port side stairs at the entryway and down to the main deck. Most of the technology looked reasonable. All pre-Sin Spiran technology, built very robust, hyperthrust electromagnetic vector drives and all the fun bells and whistles. And that bizarre motorcycle theme to it, complete with the motorbike-style piloting seat.  
  
The Gullwing support crew, minus the Hypello fellow who always remained downstairs, looked up at us as we trod our way on deck. The ship shuddered a bit. "Lightning strike," Shinra noted. The child prodigy's voice had a mechanical tinge to it as it came through the speaker in his environmental suit. He looked like he should be on Arrakis, frankly. But Al Bhed did have a bit of a Fremen styling to them. Just a bit, mind you.  
  
"We're definitely getting turbulence, I'm not sure how much higher we can go." That was from Buddy at what amounted to an operations station, to the port of the "biker" helm.  
  
And then, of course, there was Rikku's brother. Known as "Brother." And he was already leering at Yuna - his cousin I will remind you - in a creepy way. He stopped doing so to direct his attention toward me. "Who is this anyway?" he demanded, his accent thicker than the others. "I don't like strangers coming on my ship and giving orders."  
  
"And if that storm gets enough energy to expand globally, you'll like that even less," I retorted. "Now... you have instruments for detecting those sphere waves, yes?" I walked up to Buddy's panel and brought out the sonic. "Just a moment."  
  
"Hey, what are you doing?!", he demanded.  
  
"I'm modifying your scanner to pick up wider energy bands, it'll help us pinpoint the Crack's location. Oh, and it'll widen your ability to detect spheres by something around, oh, say.... over twenty times your usual range. Just so you can't say I didn't leave a gift."  
  
The look of irritation on Buddy's face gave way to astonishment and gratitude. "Wow, really? You can do that?"  
  
"Oh, yes," I said. "Just did, in fact."  
  
"Right, so...." Buddy looked over his panel. "We've got a pretty big energy source coming from nearby. I'd say another four hundred meters in the sky."  
  
"That would be it, I think."  
  
"It'll also put us in the middle of the strongest cell," Shinra pointed out. "I'm not sure the ship can take it."  
  
"Oh, I know she can, if we do a little something..." I walked over to his station. "Your ship's electromagnetic drive. We modify it the power flow a bit, change the charges..."  
  
"...and it nullifies all the electrical charges building around it, re-directing them from the ship," Shinra finished for me. "Brilliant. I would have thought about it myself, of course."  
  
"Of course you would," I said, playing along.  
  
"So what do we do?", Yuna asked.  
  
"You? You come with me, because I need extra hands."  
  
"And what about me?!" Brother stomped up and flailed his arms wildly, in a fashion that was almost comical. "You can't just ignore me."  
  
I rolled my eyes. "Don't I know it." I looked directly at him. "You? You do your bloody job, you go _pilot the bloody ship_ and keep it steady! Like any good captain should, right?"  
  
Brother stared at me for a moment before accepting the way out I offered. "Yes, of course. I will keep my ship in place! I am the captain!"  
  
"Yes you are!" I answered, trying to sound excited and supportive and not to roll my eyes again. Instead I turned toward the exit and the lift beyond. As I went through the door, I couldn't help but call out, "And please, she's your cousin, stop being so bloody creepy!"  
  
Liara gave me a punch in the arm for that, to show her disapproval with my bluntness. I grunted in acknowledgement.  
  
  
  
  
Dark clouds billowed about us and the violent winds on the deck were quite resistant to our forward movement, driving rain in great sheets across the _Celsius_ deck. Already the white light spilled out of the long Crack hovering in the sky was visible. "We really shouldn't be out here!" Rikku shouted. "It's really dangerous!"  
  
"Ah, this is nothing!" I shouted back. "Standing on the deck of a Gy'toran windsailer during one of their typhoons, now that was nasty wind!"  
  
"I don't even know what a Gyteran is!"  
  
"Gy'toran, Rikku, not Gyteran!" I shouted back over the raging wind and rain. "Gyterans are little crab people, would sooner pinch your toes off rather than give you the time of day! Totally different!"  
  
"Excuse him," Liara said politely. "He thinks he's charming when he talks like that."  
  
"I _am_ charming... not to mention very good looking!"  
  
By this point we had fought to where I put the TARDIS on the deck. I opened her up and went inside. Water dripped off from the rain that was picking up. The others came in behind me and... well, think of how Yuna and Rikku dressed at this stage. Now imagine them soaking wet. Bloody distracting, it was.  
  
I turned away from them before Liara could say anything and went downstairs. I returned with Crack-sealing equipment, complete with the new insulated hand holds and trigger guards after the unfortunate experience Ziva and Tony had been put into when firing them beyond the usual timeframe. I handed one to Yuna and went to hand one to Rikku when I noticed she was looking over a cabinet full of beakers. I thrust the device into Paine's hand and rushed over just as Rikku was holding up a vial full of dark liquid. I snatched it from her hand. "That is bloody dangerous, put it down!" I tapped a sign I'd put up reading "DO NOT TOUCH" on the cabinet.  
  
"Why, what is it?", she asked, frowning and giving me a pouty lip.  
  
I finished looking over the beaker to make sure it was still fully sealed. "It's darkspawn blood, and if you got it into your system it could turn you into one of those nasty things. They make your world's fiends look like fluffy little animals."  
  
Rikku recoiled away. "Yikes."  
  
"Anyway, you and Yuna will be firing this specialized energy emitters...."  
  
Sometimes Crack-sealing can be interesting, epic, that sort of thing. Barely escaping danger. But this time there was nothing particularly interesting. I manned the vortex regulator, Paine was on fire duty, and Liara gave biotic protection to Yuna and Rikku while they did the fun part and avoided crossing the streams.  
  
Once everything was done the _Celsius_ made her way out of the storm cell, heading south until the sun shined again through the clouds. Below was the lovely vista of the Moonflow River and the settlements along it. "Rather more scenic," Liara said, giving me a snarky look.  
  
"You said you wanted something different," I replied, just as snarky. We were drying fairly well in the setting sun.  
  
"Doctor?" I turned and faced Yuna, who remained on the deck while the others went back below. "Thank you for saving Spira."  
  
"Oh, it was nothing," I answered. I gave her a nod. "It's a habit of mind. Besides, I couldn't let your hard work and sacrifice go to waste, couldn't it?"  
  
Oh, smart move there for me. A flicker of pain went over her face. I had just touched a raw nerve. Liara gave me a good elbow in the ribs. I stepped up as a tear fell from her right eye, the green one. I sighed and offered her my hand. "It was my honor, Lady Yuna."  
  
She put her hand in mind and we shook briefly. "What are you?" she asked. "What you have is more than even the greatest _machina_ in the world. And I've never seen a race like your friend Liara."  
  
I smiled gently at that. "I'm a visitor to your world, Yuna. I'm actually not Human myself, but rather I'm a Time Lord. We're a very advanced, very ancient species. I travel in my blue box over there, my dear TARDIS. Any point in space, any time."  
  
"Any time..?" Her eyes widened.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Then..." She stopped, but I could see the question burning inside of her.  
  
I set a hand, gently, upon her shoulder. "You want to know if you'll find whom you're looking for. If you'll unlock the mystery of that sphere Rikku showed you."  
  
Her eyes widened further. "How did you...?!"  
  
"Time Lord, my dear. And I must keep some of my secrets, you understand." I winked. "Couldn't be a mysterious traveler of time and space without them." I breathed in a moment, thinking of the best way to say what I wanted to say. "If you keep looking, Yuna, you will get the opportunity to find what you're looking for. And to get him back."  
  
Her eyes filled with hope. "Really?"  
  
"Yes," I pledged. "And when you do, you should do two things." I held up a finger. "One... tell him to stop whining so much, it's rather irritating, and that he should appreciate you even more than he already does. Which, I admit, is a lot, generally. And secondly..." I held up the other finger. "For the love of Spira, make sure he doesn't just kick any old blitzball-looking item he finds. That can hazardous to a young man's health. You never know what nasty surprises the past leaves in store that look innocent these days, hrm?"  
  
She made a confused sound for a moment, but then she nodded. I nodded back and stepped back to the TARDIS, where Liara awaited. Yuna called out one last goodbye and I returned it, upon which she went into the sliding door that took her to the ship's lift.  
  
"You love giving your cryptic predictions," Liara sighed, but she was smiling.  
  
"Well, I can't exactly tell her that yes, she'll get Tidus back, and then he'll blow himself up by kicking a bomb that looks like a blitzball, now can I?", I replied. "It all gets rather convoluted, honestly. Best to just leave hints and hope for the best. Although who knows?" I walked up to the TARDIS controls. "Maybe my girl will drop us off here again to help sort that mess out."  
  
"No telling there," Liara said, grinning. "The TARDIS has a mind of her own."  
  
"That she does," I agreed. At that point I reached for the TARDIS control and shifted us out.


End file.
